Psychologists who work in prison will not be assessing inmates who applied for parole as part of industrial action ordered by their union.

The Malta Union of Professional Psychologists issued directives to members who work in the home affairs and education divisions over infringements of their sectoral agreement, union president Bernard Caruana said. The directives come into force today.

Psychologists based at the Corradino Correctional Facility will not be answering phone calls and e-mails and will not be assessing inmates for parole.

Parole grants earlier release to inmates on certain conditions with the aim of giving them the opportunity to reform. The system was introduced in January when the Restorative Justice Act came into force.

Psychologists and trainees within the education divisions will not be answering phones and e-mails either and will not carry out supplementary assessments requested by a school.

Mr Caruana explained that the education psychologists offered therapy to students with behavioural or emotional problems.

They also carried out student assessments to determine whether the child needed therapy. Occasionally, a school would ask that a student on the waiting list be assessed earlier for administration purposes, such as benchmarking.

“We don’t want to hurt anyone. We are just sounding the alarm... and might need to escalate directives in the future. Unless we have an official commitment to find a solution we will not suspend the action,” Mr Caruana said.

The union had registered an industrial dispute last month. It is accusing the government, which employs about 22 psychologists, of dragging its feet on the revision of the 1996 sectoral agreement.

Talks to revise the agreement started in 2009. Mr Caruana said the revision was essential to ensure that patients were given a better service. The union was asking for improved structures that would allow for coordination across the different government departments.

Mr Caruana said the three government ministries that employed psychologists – health, home affairs and education – were not respecting the agreement. Some psychologists were being employed on short-term, definite contracts leading to job uncertainty.

So far, the union has so far not registered a dispute with the health authorities, hoping to find a solution. However, it is now considering doing so as it felt talks were leading nowhere.

“Psychologists and trainees (who work in health) are being asked to work as self-employed even when required to work the normal 40-hours weekly. There is also a discrepancy between the payments offered to psychologists working in different departments. This is humiliating to the profession of psychology,” Mr Caruana said.

Questions sent to the Finance Ministry, which is handling the agreement negotiations, remained unanswered at the time of writing.